The Penny's Backside Gets a Makover

US Mint launches new Lincoln penny

President Lincoln's backside will look a little different from here on out.

That’s because the “tails” end of the penny is about to get a makeover.

The United States Mint Thursday launches the nation’s new Lincoln “Preservation of the Union” one-cent coin.

The mint is replacing the image of the Lincoln Memorial with a union shield and a scroll draped across it. The US Mint  website describes the new look as “… emblematic of President Lincoln’s preservation of the United States of America as a single and united country.”
 
The penny’s design was changed last year when the mint issued four commemorative designs to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s birth.  But before that, the penny hadn’t had a makeover since 1959.

A ceremony to launch the new penny will be held at 9:30 Thursday at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield.

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